1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information reading apparatus, and more particularly, to an information reading apparatus and an information reading system which can read various information stored in a card.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a system corresponding to various cards such as a cash card, a credit card or a commutation ticket is switched from a conventional magnetic card to a smart card or a new system corresponding to the smart card has been introduced. Recently, a contactless smart card is attracting much attention. This contactless smart card can send or receive information only by holding the contactless smart card to a reading apparatus and has a rapid processing speed more than that of the magnetic card. Also, since the contactless smart card includes a shock absorbing structure which simultaneously reads a plurality of objects to be read, it has good operability and convenience. Further, since the reading apparatus of the contactless smart card does not require a mechanism for carrying the card, abrasion or contact failure of a magnetic head or a contact terminal is not generated and thus costs for repairing or managing the system can be remarkably reduced. Thus, the contactless smart card is expected to be widely used in various fields.
However, the system using the contactless smart card is now used in some fields, but is not currently popularized, because large-scale initial investment is required to switch an infrastructure for the magnetic card which has been established up to now, such as existing various terminals or networks, to an infrastructure for the contactless smart card.
In consideration of the costs or the infrastructure, the infrastructure for the magnetic card must be seamlessly switched over to the infrastructure for the contactless smart card. In order to seamlessly switch over the infrastructure for the card, a technology that a communication data converting interface for converting the smart card data to have the communication specification equal to that of the magnetic card data is provided to the smart card reading and writing apparatus is known (for example, JP-A-4-195380).
FIG. 19 illustrates a card type automatic vending machine disclosed in JP-A-4-195380. The smart card reading and writing apparatus contacting with the card type automatic vending machine will be described with reference to FIG. 19.
In FIG. 19, a reference numeral 301 is the card type automatic vending machine, and a connector 307 is connected to a main control part 302 which is a master control part through a control bus line 309. The connector 307 is connected with a magnetic card reading and writing apparatus 309 for processing a magnetic card, and the main control part 302 controls the entire automatic vending machine by transmitting/receiving data or transmitting an instruction to/from a communication interface 310 connected through the connector 307 by polling.
In the card type automatic vending machine 301, a communication data converting interface 313 for a communication interface 312 is provided in a smart card reading and writing apparatus 311. The data of the smart card is read by the smart card reading and writing apparatus 311 and sent to the communication data converting interface 313 thorough the communication interface 312. The communication data converting interface 313 converts the smart card data to have the communication specification equal to that of the data transmitted from the communication interface 310 of the magnetic card reading and writing apparatus 309, and transmits the converted smart card data to the main control part 302.
By this structure, the smart card reading and writing apparatus 311 can be connected to the connector 307 for connecting the magnetic card reading and writing apparatus 309, without changing the card type automatic vending machine 301 having an interface for the magnetic card reading and writing apparatus, and thus the smart card can be easily used (See pages 2-3 and FIG. 1 of JP-A-4-195380).
JP-A-4-195380 describes an interface between equipments, which performs two-way communication through a general serial port. Most of magnetic card readers connected to existing magnetic card systems divide and outputs a signal reproduced by a magnetic head into a clock signal (data identifying timing signal) and a data signal using a demodulating circuit, and transmits these signals to an upper level apparatus, without performing a process such as frame format conversion for an electrical interface of a physical medium or data transmission. That is, the existing magnetic card system performs one-way communication for transmitting the data written on the magnetic card to the upper level apparatus.
Furthermore, when the smart card reading and writing apparatus is substituted with a contactless smart card reading and writing apparatus, the contactless smart card reading and writing apparatus reads a data of a contactless smart card located in a communication range, converts the data into the data having the same communication specification as the magnetic data image information output from a magnetic card reader, and transmits the converted data to the upper level apparatus. Also, although a plurality of contactless smart cards exist in the communication range, a specific carrier is selected by a shock absorbing mechanism and thus the process is correctly performed.
However, in order to correctly confirm payment decision of a user in application fields such as a financial card such as a cash card or a credit card or a traffic card such as a commutation ticket, when a plurality of the contactless smart cards exist in the communication range or the specification of the contactless smart card is not matched to that of a reading part, the user must be notified that the process is progressed to a next operation without processing the card.
However, in the conventional structure, since the data read from the contactless smart card is simply converted into magnetic data image information and transmitted to the upper level apparatus, a means for treating or processing the information when the plurality of the contactless smart cards exist in the communication range is not disclosed. Accordingly, the user cannot know the state that the card is not processed, and thus information on which only one card is positioned in the communication range or the card having the specification which is not matched to the specification of the reading part is removed and the card having the specification which is matched to the specification of the reading part is positioned cannot be provided to the user. Thus, the user cannot be prompted to perform the next suitable operation.